Constellations in Ruins: GPS in the Anthropocene

Abstract

First paragraph: The Global Positioning System began as a military constellation, tracking movement with precision. Over time, GPS has become the invisible scaffolding of daily life, quietly steering navigation, trade, agriculture, and war. Billions now depend on its signals to move across land, sea, and air. If GPS were to collapse, critical services would fail and much of modern life would stall (Milner, 2016). Yet this infrastructure – ageing satellites and tightly secured ground stations – remains mostly invisible and taken for granted, even as it grows more vulnerable to disruption and decay. In this photo-essay we trace how satellite constellations have become both increasingly indispensable and deeply entangled with today’s technological, political, and ecological uncertainties.